"We're not talking about you. We're talking about Gu Jiaojiao. Do you know her?" a new bride who didn't recognize Gu Jiaojiao said with feigned kindness.
"I do. I am Gu Jiaojiao."
"You're Gu Jiaojiao? And I'm the real Sheng family daughter!"
Listening to the women gossip about her without restraint—and what was worse, not even stopping when they saw her—was infuriating.
Gu Jiaojiao felt like thunder was rumbling overhead. Furious, she roared, "Screw off! How dare you spout nonsense right to my face!"
"AAGH! A ghost!"
"Uh, how is Gu Jiaojiao out and about?"
"What? Gu Jiaojiao's alive? Let's get out of here!"
"Oh my god, Gu Jiaojiao is so beautiful today!"
Gu Jiaojiao: ...
The original owner's body was indeed pathetically weak. After walking just a short way and letting out a single roar, she was already about to collapse.
Su Qinchun quickly steadied her, her anxious voice rising again. "Sister-in-law, are you okay? Are you feeling sick anywhere? Is it serious?"
'It was so satisfying watching my sister-in-law yell at those people,' she thought. 'I just hope she never yells at our Su family.'
"Thank you, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. I'll be okay if I just stand here for a moment."
"Why don't we turn back? You can go lie down, and I'll get Doctor Sun to come take a look at you."
Su Qinchun was still very worried. Gu Jiaojiao must have been upset by those gossips.
It was on her wedding day that she flew into a rage because of these shameless women, then fell into a coma for two days and two nights.
Su's mother, who had followed them out, quickly chimed in, "That's right, that's right. Jiaojiao, let's go home first and have Doctor Sun take a look at you."
The Su mother-daughter pair supported Gu Jiaojiao, one on each side, as they helped her back to the newlywed's room.
After Doctor Sun took her pulse, his diagnosis was the same as the one Gu Jiaojiao had made on herself.
"She's just physically weak, there's nothing seriously wrong. She'll be fine with some more nutritious food."
"Doctor Sun, could you please tell us what specifically she should eat?" Su's mother asked seriously.
"Eat more meat, eggs, and fish. If you can afford it, it would be best for her to have some malted milk powder every day."
A silence fell over the room. Even the Su's youngest daughter didn't make a peep, because their family couldn't afford any of the things Doctor Sun had mentioned.
Gu Jiaojiao had already used up the last of their eggs for a single bowl of noodles. As for meat, where would they even get any?
They had a little bit of savings left, but it was all spent on the wedding.
And the gift money from the wedding banquet was now clutched in Gu Jiaojiao's hand. Their family was completely broke.
"Thank you, Doctor Sun. We will take good care of her."
The man in the wheelchair at the door said in a deep, mellow voice.
Doctor Sun tactfully excused himself, and Gu Jiaojiao heard Mr. Su's voice as he saw the doctor out.
Looking again at the devastatingly handsome man in the doorway, she suddenly felt he wasn't so intimidating after all.
'Maybe I could have a romance that transcends time and space in this new era.'
'But first, I need to figure out how to make money and improve the Su family's difficult financial situation.'
'I have medical skills, but the original owner of this body never even got into college, so I don't have a license. I wonder if I can even treat patients for money in this day and age.'
Su's mother and sister looked at Gu Jiaojiao anxiously, terrified she might faint again at any moment.
"Mom, Chun Ni, you two can go do what you need to. I'm really fine. I'm just weak from lying in bed for two days. I'll be fine after a little more rest."
"Jiaojiao, are you really okay? Do you hurt anywhere?"
"No. Like Doctor Sun said, it's just a lack of exercise. I'm going to take a nap now, and I'll start jogging tomorrow morning."
"Then I'll go buy a bottle of malted milk powder to help you build up your strength," Su's mother said, then pulled Su Qinchun out of the room.
Gu Jiaojiao watched Su's mother's hunched figure retreat and made a silent, solemn promise.
'Even though Su Shuochi and I are just cannon fodder in this story, I will absolutely not be the one to anger Mr. Su and Su's mother to death.'
This body had slept for two days and two nights straight, but she somehow felt sleepy again. Gu Jiaojiao had no choice but to close her eyes and rest.
Su Shuochi watched the young woman on the bed, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts. Ever since his injury, the organization had found him countless renowned doctors, but even the top specialists all said there was no hope for his legs to heal.
When he learned he would never stand again, his heart became as numb as the lower half of his body.
He just wanted to drift through life, doing just enough to get by, and be there for his parents for the rest of their lives.
But who would have thought that even as a paraplegic, he would be targeted by the Sheng family's second and third sons? They had forced their family's delicate, sickly adopted daughter on him.
Su Shuochi had refused the marriage outright, but he couldn't withstand the desperate pleas of his direct superior.
Now, watching the young woman sleep and recalling the sweet, gentle tone she'd used after waking up, he found her far more endearing than the version of her that cursed and threw tantrums.
A ripple spread across Su Shuochi's desolate heart. He found himself somewhat looking forward to a life with her.
'But I can't bear the thought of dragging her down. If she were the Sheng family's real daughter, she could have had a very happy life.'
The Song family currently controlled the entire economic lifeline of Qing City, especially when it came to food and clothing.
They were powerful enough to blot out the sky, standing head and shoulders above everyone else. They were born to be admired from afar, completely unattainable.
Moreover, that young master of the Song family was said to be incomparably handsome, with a tall, straight posture and sharp, well-defined features.
'It's one thing for the Sheng's second and third sons to be partial to their own biological sister, but to shove their adopted sister onto a cripple like me... that's just despicable.'
The Sheng family's eldest son was exceptionally capable, but his personality was impossible to read. He had never gotten involved.
The women in the residential compound were all gossiping, saying that Gu Jiaojiao was the one who set up the situation. 'Does she even have that kind of ability?'
'At most, she was probably just trying to sleep with her childhood sweetheart, Song Zijin, and make it a done deal.'
*
The Sheng family's famously inscrutable eldest son, Sheng Shijing, was at that moment sitting in the family's spacious living room.
Mr. Sheng sat on one end of the sofa, while Sheng Xinglian nestled against Mrs. Sheng on the other.
Sheng Shiwu, the family's third son, was rattling on about what had happened at the Su family's home that afternoon, finally summing it all up in one sentence.
"Mom was the one who didn't want Jiaojiao to come back. She said just looking at Jiaojiao makes her angry."
"Ren Cuiping, how can you speak about your child that way?" Mr. Sheng demanded furiously.
"Did I say something wrong? We raised her for eighteen years, and for what? To be betrayed?" Mrs. Sheng shouted back, not to be outdone.
"I wrote to Jiaojiao's birth parents long ago. They just haven't had time to visit yet, and you all were so impatient that you dumped her on Su Shuochi?"
"Do you think I wanted to marry her off? She brought this on herself! What was I supposed to do?"
Mrs. Sheng felt incredibly wronged. She herself had only just learned that her two sons were behind this evil deed.
'Why is my life so miserable!'
'The daughter I doted on for eighteen years belongs to someone else, and the sons I poured my heart and soul into raising are the very culprits who ruined my adopted daughter's life.'
Sheng Shijing, the eldest son; Sheng Shiwen, the second; Sheng Shiwu, the third; and their sister, Sheng Xinglian, all saw Mrs. Sheng begin to cry.
But they all had different thoughts. Seeing his mother cry, Sheng Shiwen's heart filled with even more hatred for Gu Jiaojiao.
'If it weren't for that ungrateful brat, our family would be so harmonious.'
Sheng Shijing threw a subtle glance at his biological sister, who was nestled against their mother, looking completely guileless.
"Dad, Mom, please stop fighting. Gu Jiaojiao will come to her senses in a day or two and return."
"What would she even come back for? She gave all her gift money to Xingxing and said she'd pay us back for all the meals she ate here."
"That ungrateful brat said she'd pay us back?" Sheng Shiwen found that impossible to believe.
"She did—"
"Third Brother, please stop. It's all my fault."